Team India captain Shubman Gill and his rotten luck with tosses continued in his first Test in charge at home. But Gill would not be unhappy at losing the toss against West Indies in the first Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Indian bowlers led by Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah wrecked havoc early as Windies were on the mat after electing to bat first. Siraj, who was the leading wicket-taker in the five-match Test series with 20 wickets, led the way with three early wickets while Bumrah added another one as the visitors lost four early wickets before lunch on the opening day.
Siraj opened the flood gates with opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul caught down the leg-side for a duck, brilliantly caught by Dhruv Jurel – who is in the team as wicketkeeper with Rishabh Pant out injured. Bumrah sent back the other opener John Campbell for 8, caught behind thanks to a brilliant review by captain Shubman Gill.
WATCH Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah grab early wickets vs West Indies on Day 1 HERE…
Two opening bowlers vs the two opening batters.
Watch Siraj and Bumrah pick a wicket apiece in the 1st Test.
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Brandon King hammered a couple of impressive boundaries but disastrously shouldered arms to Siraj’s incoming delivery to have his middle-stump uprooted. Alick Athanaze, the West Indies No. 3 batter, was loose outside his off-stump and fell edging Siraj to KL Rahul at second slip.
Thanks to Siraj’s triple strikes, West Indies slipped to 42 for 4 wickets in just the 12th over of the innings. However, captain Roston Chase and Shai Hope managed to stem the rot with a impressive mix of defence and attack.
Hope looked impressive, racing to 24 off 29 balls with 3 boundaries while Chase looked solid while scoring 21 off 34 balls with four fours.
Meanwhile, Team India opted to pick three spinners in their playing 11, in spite of a healthy covering of grass on the surface. Kuldeep Yadav returned to the side after more than a year away from Test cricket. Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar retained their berths from the fifth Test vs England at the Oval.
Kuldeep struck in his second over, going through the gap between bat and pad of Shai Hope to hit the stumps, who was dismissed for 26 as Windies went into lunch at 90 for 5 wickets in the 24th over.
All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy also returned to injury as the third seamer to back Siraj and Bumrah. Reddy was picked ahead of Devdutt Padikkal as the specialist bater.